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Friday, February 10, 2012

Cold Weather Living: Water Management

This post is about another crucial topic—water management,
or more correctly, how to ensure you have drinkable water when you need it
instead of a frozen block of ice.

Sleep with your water.
Anything that you want to be unfrozen in the morning should be in your
sleeping bag with you when you turn in for the night. I keep a Nalgene in my bag with me so I have
water for the morning.

Sleep with hot water.
If you’re going to be sleeping with a bottle of water anyway, you might
as well make it hot first, which will keep you and your sleeping bag nice and
toasty. Once the water has cooled off
during the night, move it down to the foot of your sleeping bag so it won’t cool
you off, too.

Bury your water.
If you need a larger supply of water or want to avoid melting snow or
ice in the morning, place your extra water in “the fridge.” Make a mound of snow and dig out a space in
one side of the mound slightly larger than your water container. The hollowed-out mound will stay barely above
freezing (snow is a great insulator), keeping your water in a liquid state all
night.

Invest in a pee bottle.
This is also an important part of water management. You want to stay well-hydrated in the field,
even when you’re in the tent, but you may not want to go out into the elements
to relieve yourself. Keep a dedicated
(and clearly marked!) pee bottle on hand and empty it every morning.